BOX SCORE

SALEM, Ore. – In a battle of cross-town rivals, Corban's women's volleyball team dropped a heart-breaking five-set match, 3-2 (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 18-25, 13-15), to NCAA Division III member Willamette Tuesday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center despite a match-high seven service aces by freshman Jenny Harman (Salem, Ore.).

Coming off its first conference victory of the season Saturday against Evergreen, Corban was looking to extend its winning streak against the Bearcats to four straight matches and earn its third victory this year.

After posting a pair of wins in the opening two sets after committing seven combined hitting errors, Corban went head-to-head with a completely different Willamette team over the final three sets.

In the opening set, Corban pushed its lead to as much as three points (14-11) following a service ace by sophomore Megan Dees (Tehachapi, Calif.). Willamette would battle back to tie the set at 17-17 before Corban used a closing 8-4 run that was capped by a kill by freshman Morgan Hirzel (Fullerton, Calif.) for the final score of 25-21.

Set #2 began with Willamette earning a five-point lead (15-10) before Corban used an 8-2 run to gain a one-point lead (18-17) after a combo block by Hirzel and junior Teri Braun (Dallas, Ore.). Both teams battled back and forth until the score was knotted at 23-23 before the Warriors got a pair of closing kills by freshman Karisa Calderon (Murrieta, Calif.) and Land to take the early 2-0 lead.

In the third and middle set, Willamette fell behind early (15-8) when the Bearcats' coaching staff made a substitution that would change the match by putting in former Warrior Jessie McGraw, who was reported to be out with an injury. From that point on, Willamette was a different looking team as the Bearcats used a set-closing 17-8 run that resulted in a 25-23 victory.

Set #4 tilted towards Willamette early, as McGraw gave the visiting Bearcats an early 5-1 lead that they would never relinquish. Corban did tie the set at 13-13, but Willamette closed out the fourth set on a 12-5 run to knot the match at two sets apiece.

In the fifth and final set, Willamette used another opening 5-1 run that forced Corban to call a timeout. Coming out of the break, the Warriors used their own 5-1 run that tied the set at 6-6 following a Bearcat attack error. Corban would claim a two-point lead (13-11) late thanks to a kill by Hirzel, but Willamette scored the match's final four points with the ending kill coming via Nicole Mertens for the hard-fought five-set victory.

Freshman Chandra Baskoro (Gresham, Ore.) led the Warriors' offense for the second match in a row, as she recorded a team-best 14 kills. Meanwhile, Harman and sophomore Tiffany Land (Independence, Ore.) added 10 and 9 kills respectively to go along with Hirzel's eight. Calderon ran Corban's offense with a team-leading 27 assists, while Baskoro and junior Rebecca Franke (Pendleton, Ore.) anchored the Warriors' defense with a match-high tying 14 digs each. At the net, Corban registered a combined 15 blocks with Calderon posting a team-best four assist blocks.

Willamette was led by Molly Blankenship's match-high 21 kills, while Josephine Johnson and Mertens added 9 and 5 kills respectively. Brigit Miller handed out a match-high 38 assists for the Bearcats, while Kathy Lee Glenn registered a match-high tying 14 digs from her back row position.

Following tonight's match, Corban falls to 2-9 overall and Willamette improves to 3-5 on the season. The Warriors are back in action on Friday, September 18th, when they travel south to Eugene to take on conference-rival Northwest Christian beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside the Morse Event Center.